ARBORVITAE HEDGE
RIPENING CONES
A BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN WHITE CEDARSaturday, 7:15 AM. 67 degrees, humidity 51%, wind WSW, light. It is a cloudless morning and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. Yesterday evening was balmy and breezy, the sky awash in the reflected light of the moon and Venus.
Eastern white cedar, also called arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, is a native conifer of swamps and stream banks of northeastern and Midwestern North America. Its attractive bright yellow cones are ripening now. It is very aromatic, and has many uses in Native American herbal medicine in the treatment of coughs, colds, sprains, and other ailments. It was and is much used ceremonially as a purifying incense. Its wood and fiber has many uses.
It is a beautiful tree, and can be used for hedges if kept trimmed. There are horticultural selections that do not grow as large as the species, and these are usually a better landscape choice.
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